Hello, (96, civic, ex, 1.6 vtec, at)
My exhaust manifold cracked. Yesterday had mechanic come to house to check it out. Great mech, honest etc, but wants 90 bucks to put new ones on. Been researching for half a day or so. Thats what brought me here. 15 or 16 bolts plus o2 sensor seems to be the job. Any info is greatly appreciated. Here are questions:

1)With those 50 dollar 4,2,1 headers on Ebay, does the tail end of unit bolt on easily to pipe under car? No weird adaptors needed?
2) Does the fan unit have to come off to pull manifold?
3) Will car stands suffice?

Any info is appreciated. I am a broke old golf pro trying to save some money and have done a few jobs on the car myself but have limited knowledge of this job. Have a good new year.

 

IF you buy a $50 header off of ebay, you're going to end up right back in this position. Spend the money and get a decent manifold. If you want to take the cheap route, try hitting up a junk yard for a stock one.

As far as removal and install, it's fairly simple. Unbolt it from the head, disconnect it from the cat, pull o2 sensor and remove it. Install is reverse of removal

 

Thanks much. I think cat is down the pipe a ways. Not sure. Curious, you say I would end up back here, do the cheapies on ebay break? welds?? fitting???

 

Yes they break. The overall quality is not that great. And yes the converter down the exhaust, underneath your car.

 

Thanks for info.

 

Okay i was wondering the same. I was gonna get a 4-2-1 or 4-1 (whatever provides better low end power) header on my 02 civic ex and i keep hearing bout the 02 sensor, do i need to get a new one, or just unplug the old one, put on new part and plug it back in?

 

yea when u get the new header there will be 2 o2 bungs in it (for the first and secondary o2 sensor). You will get a CEL becasue of the secondary sensor, but an o2 simulator will fix that. Depending on your model, you might have to extend the o2 sensor too, which can go wrong really easily, but its what i did.

 

LOL...not as easy as it sounds. You may want to budget for a new O2 sensor as the old ones tend to weld and rust in place.

 

Whoops, I mean to type pull the o2 sensor plug, then remove o2 sensor from pipe. Dogmeat is right, it can be difficult. However, I've never ruined one taking them out. Your best bet is to start the car and let it run for 30 seconds or so, then *carefully* get back under and try to spin it out

 

Well, got the headers on. Work great. Cheapies, yes, but they will do. Turned a gold color.
Only hangup? Friggen old sensor would not come out, I even put a torch to the old manifold to heat up the senser area, tons of blaster penetrating, and my 300 pound bench pressing self could not get the sensor out. Those littles bastards are 100 bucks or so. Buddy has a 98, i will see if it compatible with 96.

I probably will just get a new one next payday.